Yamuna Deva

“Smile and the world smiles back.”
― André Aciman, Call Me By Your Name

“Cherish your wilderness.”
― Maxine Kumin

“I have lived in the shadow of loss—the kind of loss that can paralyze you forever.
I have grieved like a professional mourner—in every waking moment, draining every ounce of my life force.
I died—without leaving my body.
But I came back, and now it’s your turn.
I have learned to remember my past—without living in it.
I am strong, electric, and alive, because I chose to dance, to laugh, to love, and to
live again.
I have learned that you can’t re-create the life you once had—you have to
reinvent a life for yourself.
And that reinvention is a gift, not a curse.
I believe your future self is a work of art and that science can help you create it. If you’re lost . . . if you’re gone . . . if you can barely absorb the words on this
page . . . I want you to hold this truth in your heart: when it’s your time to go, you won’t wish you had spent more time grieving; you’ll wish you had spent more time living.
That’s why I’m here. And why you are, too. Let’s live like our lives depend on it.”
― Christina Rasmussen, Second Firsts: Live, Laugh, and Love Again

“Rarely do great beauty and great virtue dwell together.”
― Francesco Petrarca